


Personal Notes (35) Do you like cephalopods?

by longhairshortfuse



Series: Carlos's Secret Diary [35]
Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: M/M, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Tentacles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-28
Updated: 2014-06-28
Packaged: 2018-02-06 13:49:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1860354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/longhairshortfuse/pseuds/longhairshortfuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cecil nagged Carlos to try writing something a little more entertaining than his usual science stuff. Carlos wasn't keen, but gave it a shot anyway.<br/>How would Cecil react to some unexpected extra appendages?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Personal Notes (35) Do you like cephalopods?

**Author's Note:**

> I may regret this one later!

Cecil continued to nag me to write something for him but I lied and said I didn't have time, or didn't have any ideas, or had left all my pens at the lab (they become illegal as soon as I take them more than three paces from the entrance) or some other excuse. After a few days of snatching opportunities to write in secret, I presented Cecil with my story and a glass of wine. I gave them to him in his study one evening after I judged that he had been writing for long enough and should stop. He took the pages from me with raised eyebrows and a delighted smile.  
"You did it, you wrote me something!"  
"It gets quite... umm... _scientific_ in places. Hope that's okay."  
He took the pages, settled onto the little sofa with the Feynman diagram design throw and started to read. I wanted to stay and watch his reaction but at the last minute I made an excuse about clearing up and left the room.

Creepy Things: chapter 1. Tentacles   


Ever since Cecil was small he had been afraid of creepy things. Spiders make him jump, especially the small ones that can get into cracks and crevices and evade even the most carefully aimed projectiles. People who smile too much creep him out too but in a different kind of way. More recently Cecil had demonstrated a new phobia. It manifested at a visit to the aquarium. Cecil was quite happy to spend time there as he was _very_ into sharks but his boyfriend, Carlos, insisted on going to see the cephalopod exhibit and (being a bit clumsy) fell over his own feet and splashed down in the octopus tank. Cecil watched in horror as a particularly magnificent specimen shot over, wrapped two, then four, then six suckered tentacles around Carlos's face and used the remaining two tentacles to drag its prey further towards the back of the tank.  


Cecil screamed as Carlos struggled to free himself from the deadly grip of the gelatinous cephalopod. Carlos, getting more and more panicked as he used up the reserves of oxygen in his lungs, kicked and thrashed. Somehow, he managed to stand up. He lifted his head, complete with attached tentacles, out of the water and the octopus let go. It reluctantly slunk back to the far corner of the tank and continued its previous occupation of loosening the twisty lids off jars that were too tight for its favourite keeper to open.  


Carlos breathed deeply to counteract the searing in his lungs and his legs, paying back the oxygen debt the struggle had given him. Cecil reached out to help Carlos up and out of the tank.  


"Your face! Oh no!" Cecil wailed.  
"What? My face is way down my list of priorities right now. I'm soaking!" replied Carlos. "What's wrong with it?"  
"You're covered in little round, raised, red lumps." Cecil reached out to touch one but paused before his delicate fingers made contact. "It's weird. Does it hurt?"  


Carlos carefully ran his hand over his skin, prodding the marks gently. "No, there's no pain. It should calm down in a couple of hours. I hope there are no bruises. Did you know that an octopus has such a complex nervous system that it can control each sucker independently?" He looked over at the octopus, which was engrossed in working at the particularly tight lid of a jar of marshmallow fluff. "They are really amazing creatures."  


Cecil shuddered visibly. "They are disgusting. I hate, _hate_ those tentacles. What on earth was it trying to do to you?"  
"Screw my head off? I don't know! They are really quite intelligent. Look!" Carlos pointed as the octopus held the jar just above the water surface. The keeper took the jar from its grip then stroked the tentacle. In response to the touch, the octopus flushed a rainbow of colours. "I didn't know you had a tentacle phobia."  
"There has never been cause for it to come up. It's like being afraid of drowning in the desert. Anyway, I don't care how clever they are," said Cecil. "That one could have killed you. You could have drowned in there."  


The keeper came over, told Carlos off for annoying the octopus and Cecil for insulting it then politely asked them to leave. Cecil looked like he was about to argue but Carlos said, "okay, let's go look at the sharks now," and they left. Carlos was uncomfortable in wet jeans but the exhibit areas were tropically warm and he didn't want to ruin Cecil's day completely.  


After spending an indeterminate amount of time admiring the sharks, Cecil suggested a trip to the cafe and gift shop. Carlos passed on the coffee. "I must've gotten a gutful of salt water, I feel queasy and my stomach hurts a bit," he explained. Carlos bought Cecil a shark poster, Cecil bought Carlos a "hug an octopus" teeshirt and a pair of sweat pants to change into so that the drive home would be more comfortable for them both, Carlos's waterlogged clothing was starting to smell funny.  
By the time they got home, Carlos was feeling quite ill. His stomach pain was worse and there was a small but noticeable swelling in his abdomen, just below his sternum. Cecil looked concerned.  


"Does it hurt a lot? Should I call someone?" asked Cecil.  
"Yes, it hurts quite a lot but I don't think Teddy would be able to help much. He's really good with open wounds, broken bones and other bowling-realted injuries but this is probably beyond his expertise. Oddly, although it is painful, It doesn't feel _wrong._ Does that make sense?"  
"No. I'll call him anyway..." Cecil stopped talking and stared, mouth agape, at Carlos's abdomen. He jumped, pointed and shouted. "What the hell is that!"  


Carlos looked down as the pain suddenly melted away. The skin over the swelling had ruptured and there were eight small but perfectly formed tentacles waving around.  


"Oooh! Quick, Cecil, take a picture. Get a measuring tape in the shot for scale. Can you do a close up? Is it in focus? Let me see!" Carlos barked instructions at Cecil. Cecil complied mostly because he had no idea what else to do. Carlos was busy measuring and logging his observations. Length of each tentacle (numbered with a permanent marker first) and time measurement was made. "I need to investigate the growth rate of whatever this is. It feels like they are part of me." Carlos touched one of the tentacles again, gently then harder. He winced. "Yes, they are part of me. I'll take a swab and a biopsy at the lab tomorrow. Cecil? Cecil, are you okay?"  


Cecil was out cold on the floor.  


Carlos checked that Cecil was breathing and had a pulse then rolled him into the recovery position before going to find a loose fitting shirt. Fortunately he still had one shapeless red flannel shirt left.When Cecil came round a couple of minutes later, Carlos looked normal, proto-tentacles hidden.  


"Okay? Take it easy. Don't sit up yet," Carlos stayed with Cecil while he recovered. Eventually Cecil sat up and allowed Carlos to steer him to the sofa. Carlos sat next to Cecil. "Okay now?"  
"I guess. I thought for a moment that you had grown a set of disgusting tentacles. It was really creepy. Sorry, I just hate things with tentacles."  
"What? I don't see how suddenly growing tentacles is possible," Carlos said, truthfully. He did not understand how or why the tentacles had developed. Carlos was worried. He could not hide the tentacles for long. He knew that octopuses lived fast and died young, sometimes living only a year or two, some surviving just long enough to mate before dying and decomposing rapidly. Cephalopods could grow remarkably quickly too so the inches-long tentacle cluster of today could be considerably larger by tomorrow, and what about the days and weeks after that?  


"I think I should go to bed," said Cecil. "You coming too?"  
"No, I'll stay up for a little while," said Carlos, "I want to do some research on oceanic invertebrate growth rates and teuthology."  


Cecil went to bed. Carlos did not. He waited for the sounds of Cecil getting ready for bed to quiet down and unbuttoned his shirt. He wrote in his notebook:  
 _bilateral symmetry_  
 _four pairs of tentacles_  
He waggled the tentacles in pairs then stroked one. It changed colour, a ripple of green passing along its length.  
 _Chromatophores present but not under conscious control_  
He repeated the measurements of the length of each tentacle. _Growth rate five percent in six hours._ He would struggle to hide them by this time tomorrow. Carlos concentrated on controlling his new anatomy. It was difficult, but the more he practised the easier it became. After an hour he could wave each tentacle independently of the others. Controlling the individual suckers would take more work, and perhaps further development of the new nervous system within the tentacles.  
Carlos was tired. He did not want to cause Cecil any further alarm so he went to their bedroom to kiss Cecil goodnight without waking him then slept alone in the spare room.  


He woke to find Cecil sitting on the edge of the bed. It was dark, still the middle of the night. Carlos held the sheet up to hide the tentacles, which were noticeably much thicker and longer than a few hours ago. Cecil spoke first. "Why are you sleeping here? Did I do something wrong? Is it what I said about the tentacles, I mean, that was real, wasn't it?"  


"Yes. I didn't want to wake you or frighten you again."  
"Are you okay?"  
Carlos thought for a moment. "No, not really."  


"Talk to me then." Cecil got into the spare bed beside Carlos and put an arm around his shoulders. Carlos was glad of the contact and rested his forehead against Cecil's and slid his arms around his waist.  


"It's the tentacles. You hate them and I don't know what to do. They're a part of me. Does that mean we can't... What does that mean?"  
"It means I have to get used to them," Cecil said, "it just might take some time. I'm sorry I freaked out."  
Carlos kissed Cecil softly. "Can you stand to see them? Should I hide them?"  
"No, don't hide. If I see them I might get used to them more quickly." Cecil unbuttoned Carlos's shirt. The tentacles had grown even more. Carlos experimented with moving them around. He could stretch them out to more than double their resting length, with their thickness decreasing in compensation. He could see Cecil was making an effort not to be repelled. Carlos said, "Can you try to touch one."  
"Are they cold and slimy?"  
"No, they are just parts of me. Think of them as extra arms. That's what they feel like to me."  
Carlos held the tentacles still. Cecil almost touched one before taking his hand away again. "I'm sorry, I just can't."  
"That's okay. You don't have to." Carlos stroked Cecil's cheek. Cecil froze.  


"That wasn't your hand!"  


Carlos realised that he had stroked Cecil's face but still had both arms around him, hands rubbing Cecil's back. "Shit! I'm so sorry! I was holding you and thinking about stroking your face and it just happened." Carlos was mortified, terrified, what if Cecil couldn't take it, couldn't adapt to Carlos's new anatomy? "Please don't leave. I'll work on controlling them better."  
Cecil brought a hand across to Carlos's errant tentacle. He touched it gently, once. The tentacle glowed with pale bioluminescence. "It's dry, I didn't expect that." He stroked the length of the tentacle carefully. "It's warm too, it just feels like a part of you." Cecil was oblivious to the effect that stroking the tentacle had on Carlos. Carlos lay still, eyes shut tight, an intense look of concentration on his face. "Carlos, you okay?"  


"Yes," Carlos gasped, "When you touch it, it feels..." He struggled for the right words, "really... _neat._ "  
Cecil said, "Oh? Oooh!" and smiled. He pushed Carlos over onto his back, pulled back the sheet and sat up straddled on Carlos's hips. "Like this?" Cecil stroked the same tentacle as before from the root to the tip. Carlos held his breath them let it out in a hiss.  


"Yes, like that."  
Cecil said, "Perhaps I could get used to them after all," and put both hands into the writhing mass on Carlos's abdomen, catching several tentacles and teasing them out between his fingers. Carlos whimpered.  
"They are really sensitive! Maybe just one at a time..." Cecil was ahead of him. He had one tentacle in his hand and stroked it, watching the colour patterns change as the reflectivity of the chromatospheres altered with their size in response to touch.  
"The colours are quite unusual," he said, "and the glow is quite... pretty isn't the right word. Striking, perhaps."  


Carlos breathed deeply for a moment after Cecil replaced the tentacle. He wondered how much control he had over them. He concentrated on moving one at a time around Cecil's waist. Cecil sat still until the last pair of tentacles missed Cecil's midriff and instead landed lower, on the part of Cecil's anatomy that Carlos had momentarily allowed his mind to drift towards. Cecil twitched in surprise.  


"Oh! I'm sorry, I lost control for a moment there." Carlos removed the pair of tentacles that had started to massage Cecil's penis through his shorts. "I was thinking about..."  
"I could tell," cut in Cecil. "Do you need to practise keeping them under control?"  
"I guess so," Carlos sighed, looking dejectedly at the prospect of spending his nights alone.  
"Okay then, _carefully_ put those tentacles back where they were."  
"Are you sure?"  
"Not really, but do you want me to change my mind?"  
"No. But if you do, say so." Carlos closed his eyes and concentrated on where his tentacles were. It was not a success.  


"Don't think so hard about it," advised Cecil. "Just think about what you want to do and see what happens. Maybe if I take your mind off it a bit too..." Cecil shuffled down a little and moved his hands from Carlos's waist to his hips and slipped them under his waistband. Carlos closed his eyes again and just thought about how good Cecil's warm body always felt, how much he wanted to stroke his soft skin, how... Cecil's moan brought Carlos back. His hands rested on Cecil's thighs, one pair of tentacles was stroking Cecil's face and hair, one pair was around his waist, one pair was busy stroking Cecil's erection and the fourth pair was gently rubbing what they could reach of Cecil's buttocks.  


Cecil moved a hand up to catch one of the tentacles that was stroking his face. He rubbed the tip of it with his fingers, making Carlos shiver. He asked, "feel good?" Carlos replied with a quiet "Mmmhmmm."  


The tentacles around Cecil's waist pulled him over onto his side next to Carlos and the tentacles that were stroking his buttocks helped to manoeuvre his shorts out of the way. Carlos asked once more, "are you sure?" and Cecil responded by helping to remove Carlos's shirt and shorts before kissing him deeply. Carlos allowed his tentacles to explore Cecil the way that his hands had done so many times before. Cecil shivered at the familiar yet unusual touch. Carlos settled his tentacles. Two again stroking Cecil's face and neck, two holding him fast around his waist, two stroking his erection and two working on his buttocks. Cecil put one hand in Carlos's hair to hold him still for another kiss and snaked the other down to Carlos's erection. Carlos rolled over onto his back and his tentacles held Cecil firmly, moving him so that he straddled Carlos again. Cecil sat up slightly, lifted by the tentacles around his waist and pushed by the tentacles behind him.  


Carlos's tentacles began a rhythmic pattern of stroking wherever they touched and gripped. As Carlos began to lose himself in the sensation of Cecil sitting on top of him and touching him so intimately, the tentacles behind Cecil started to work their way around his anus and slightly inside, only just far enough to add an extra dimension of sensation to Cecil's obvious pleasure. Cecil had one tentacle in his mouth, exploring it's sensitive sucker structure with his tongue as Carlos writhed beneath him. Another gently stroked Cecil's neck and chest, slowly and deliberately passing over his nipples, making him moan. The thickest tentacles, around Cecil's waist, supported him just high enough that the remaining tentacles were not impeded in their work of making Cecil want them more and more. Two paid close attention to his penis and scrotum, stroking, circling and grasping, one stroked up and down the sensitive area between his buttocks and the one that had carefully wriggled just inside pulsed its thickness gently to the same rhythm.  


The tingle in Cecil's groin built up and burst into his brain as he came, muffled moaning and sucking cool air over the tentacle still in his hot mouth. Carlos arched his back at this extra intense sensory input and came with a quiet, shuddering sigh.  


Carlos retracted his tentacles and Cecil slithered down beside him. They lay warm and relaxed, drifting towards sleep but never quite arriving. "Still hate my tentacles?" asked Carlos.  


"Hmm, I think my phobia might be quite easy to cure," Cecil mumbled. "I'll let you know when I have enough data to ensure statistically significant results." Carlos laughed and held Cecil snug, two arms and eight tentacles enveloping his sleepy boyfriend.  


"You really are quite into science these days, aren't you?"  


They slept, not waking up until sunlight streamed through a crack between the curtains. Carlos stretched and yawned, stroked a hand over Cecil's head. He looked down and yelled. "Cecil!"  
Cecil grumbled, he was not quick to wake up in the morning. "Mmmf, what?"  
"They've gone!"  
That wasn't quite true. The tentacles were still there, still wrapped around the cosy, half-asleep form next to him, but no longer attached. Carlos fingered over the eight-pointed star shaped scar on his abdomen and gingerly picked up the end of the nearest detached tentacle. It began to disintegrate in his hand.  
"We have to get up. Please keep your eyes closed."  


It was too late, Cecil was waking up properly and opened his eyes. He propped himself up and looked in confusion from the scar on Carlos's body to the mess of decomposing tentacles on the sheet. He leapt out of bed, glistening lumps of tentacle falling from where they had been wrapped around his body and plopping onto the wooden floor. He couldn't hold it in any longer. Cecil screamed, the full force of his phobia crashing back over him. Carlos brushed off the worst of the mess then carried his hyperventilating Cecil to the shower.  


Later, after Cecil had calmed down and Carlos had removed all traces of tentacle from the house (except for a few samples for later analysis, but these were well hidden deep in his lab coat pocket in sample tubes labelled "random goop") they had a lazy breakfast. Cecil had the day off, Carlos did not but offered to call in sick and keep him company.  
"That would be nice, but you don't have to. I'll be okay," said Cecil.  
"We could go out somewhere together, take our minds off what happened," suggested Carlos.  


Cecil thought for a moment then his face showed that he had reached a decision. "Okay, I'd like that," he said, "but _not_ the aquarium."  


Carlos smiled and reached for his phone. "What about the zoo? I've heard there is a really excellent scientific arachnid exhibition in the giant arthropods house. That would be neat, wouldn't it?"  


*****

I hid in the kitchen, clattering dishes and cleaning up. Cecil appeared eventually, took the dishcloth out of my hand and dropped it on the worktop before holding my head still with both hands and kissing me. He giggled. "Tentacles? _Really?_ "  


I shrugged. "You said _write anything_ so I did. Was it okay?"  


He nodded. "Yeah, but you have given me very mixed feelings about tentacles." He moved his arms to my waist and held me close, his hips pressing into mine. Could I feel...? "Let me show you what we can do _without_ any extraneous appendages."  


Forty minutes later I agreed that two arms each were probably enough.


End file.
